Here’s what could rattle the stock market this year
Yet every time it looks like stocks could be heading for an even steeper drop, investors come rushing back in to buy the dips.
“It’s been a Teflon market recently,” said Bill Sterling, global strategist with GW&K Investment Management, referring to the notoriously non-stick material. “Expectations have changed a bit with a rate hike cycle beginning sooner but the market is discounting that.”
So what needs to happen to really rattle Wall Street’s nerves in a meaningful fashion?
“I’m not surprised by the market’s resilience because the fundamentals for earnings and the economy are still strong,” said Larry Adam, chief investment officer with Raymond James. “But the markets are due in many ways for a pullback.”
Adam said investors need to keep an eye on the Fed. If it has to hike short-term interest rates even more than expected because of inflation, that could create more market jitters.
“Investors may get nervous about more volatility,” he said. “If the Fed is more aggressive, that could spook the markets.”
Rising bond yields still could be a problem
The prospect of meaningfully higher long-term interest rates could also slow the economy and put a dent in stock prices.
“The bond market is a mystery now with where inflation is. I don’t think rates will remain at these levels,” said Steve Wyett, chief investment strategist with BOK Financial.
“We could have market volatility around the midterms, but that’s not in the forecasts just yet,” Wyett said.
Still, investors may continue to drown out any noise about politics, Covid and even inflation as long as corporate profits keep chugging along at a healthy clip.
According to forecasts from FactSet Research, analysts are still expecting earnings for the S&P 500 to rise nearly 10% from last year. Although that is a…
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